Merchandise display hook



March 3, 1964 A. I. FIELD ETAL 3,123,331

MERCHANDISE DISPLAYHOOK Filed June 26, 1962 4222221. iNVENTORS Y 20Jill-N F/[ZO /aA/fr P. F1420 J6 2? BY ATTORNEY) United States PatentFiled June 26, 1962, Ser. No. 205,397 9 Claims. (Cl. 248317) Thisinvention relates to the display of merchandise in stores, and moreparticularly to a hook which is useful for that purpose.

There has been a marked change in retail merchandising, with greatemphasis on display and accessibility for self-service by the customer.Much of this display is obtained by hanging the packaged goods onhorizontal pegs projecting from a vertical display board. The package isusually a transparent envelope or a card with a transparent blister. Thecard or envelope or its header is customarily provided with a hole whichis slipped over the peg.

This method of merchandising has proved very successful with products ofa uniform nature, but not with other merchandise such as clothing wherethere are diiferent colors, patterns and sizes. The hole and peg systemthen is not satisfactory because it requires the removal of forwarditems from the peg in order to reach a rear item. Merchandise of thischaracter has therefore been piled on a counter, which requires muchmore floor space, and leads to considerable disarray of the goods ascustomers search through the piles.

The general object of the present invention is to solve the foregoingproblem, and to make the vertical display system applicable tonon-uniform products. This applies not only to clothing, but also toitems such as lipstick, rouge, or eye shadow, where there are manydifferent shades of color.

The use of an open hook instead of a hole makes it posible to slip anyitem from a peg for examination, even if located in the middle or at therear of the peg. Accordingly, a more specific object of the presentinvention is to provide an inexpensive expendable hook which may bereadily but securely attached to the upper edge of a package, such as acardboard, or a transparent plastics envelope, or the header of such anenvelope. Other objects are to so design the hook that it may be made atlow cost, and is easy to apply to the goods to be displayed.

To accomplish the foregoing general objects, and other more specificobjects which will heerinafter appear, our invention resides in the hookelements and their relation one to another as are hereinafter moreparticularly described in the following specification. The specificationis accompanied by a drawing in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing our display hook applied to atransparent envelope carrying a shirt or blouse;

FIG. 2 shows the hook applied to a cardboard on which a shirt ispackaged;

FIG. 3 shows the hook applied to the header of a small transparentenvelope used for a cosmetic product;

FIG. 4 is a front elevation of our improved hook;

FIG. 5 is a section taken in the plane of the line 55 of FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 is a section taken in the plane of the line 6-6 of FIG. 3; and

FIG. 7 is a horizontal section drawn to enlarged scale and taken in theplane of the line 7-7 of FIG. 6.

Referring to the drawing, and more particularly to FIGS. 4 and 5, thehook is made of an integral body of a flexible plastics material,preferably polyethylene. It comprises an upright shank 12 having acurved head 14 at its upper end, and one half 16 of a fastener at itslower 3,123,331 Patented Mar. 3, 1964 end. There is also a strap 18extending from the fastener 16, and preferably alongside the shank 12.The strap 18 carries the other half 20 of the fastener at its free end.As here illustrated, the portion 20 is the female or socket portion andhas a hole 22. The part 16 is the male portion and has a pin or stud 2d.

The strap 13 is readily bendable, so that the halves of the fastener maybe brought together as shown in FIG. 6. It will be understood that theenvelope, cardboard or header has a hole near its upper edge throughwhich the stud 24 is passed, and following which the strap 18 is bentand the socket 22 applied over the stud, preferably with a resilientsnap fit, thereby securely locking the hook on the package. The strap ispreferably thinned at the middle, as indicated at 26, in order tolocalize the bending of the strap and to thereby bring the halves of thefastener in substantial alignment when the strap is folded. Vieweddifferently, it may be said that the upper and lower portions, but notthe middle portion of the strap, are reinforced or stiffened with ridgesor beads of material, indicated at 28. The curved head 14 of the hook isthick enough to be stiif and to hold its load. In the illustrated hookit is thickened as indicated at 39, to stiffen the same.

To give the fastener a snap fit the stud Z4 is provided with anenlargement 32 at its free end. This may be provided without the use ofmovable or cam-operated retractable cores. Instead the base area 16beneath the stud 24 has a hole 34 at each side of the stud, throughwhich fixed core pins pass during the molding of the hook in a simpletwo-part mold. These fixed core pins result in a longitudinal thinningof the stud to conform to the adjacent portions of the holes 34. Whenthe holes are round, as here, each side of the stud has a concavityindicated at 36. These concavities stop short of the free end 32 of thestud, thereby providing the desired enlargemerit.

The hole 22 in socket 29 is slightly smaller than the original studdiameter. It stretches over the enlargement 32, and then contracts andis thereby locked in position, as indicated in FIG. 27.

It will be understood that other forms of snap engagement might beemployed, but that here illustrated has the advantage of not adding tothe molding cost of the complete hook.

It will also be understood that the upper portion 2% of the fastenermight be the male portion, and the lower portion 16 the female portion,but the present arrangement is more convenient when applying the hook toa display card or envelope in that the stud is first passed through thehole before bending the strap. It will also be understood that the strapmight extend in some other direction, but that here shown is preferredbecause the complete hook then may be molded in a compact mold cavity,so that many cavities may be made in a single mold, which againcontributes to economy in manufacture. This compactness is further aidedby locating the upper portion 24b of the fastener within the curved head14 of the hook. Moreover, the strap then bends around the top edge ofthe card or package being supported by the hook.

Referring now to FIG. 1, a shirt or blouse 42 is packaged within atransparent envelope 44. This may be made of polyethylene,polypropylene, cellophane, or other suitable plastics material in sheetform. A hole may be provided near the upper edge of the bag, and thehook 46 of the present invention secured therein, or the hole may bemade by the stud itself. More specifically, the stud is applied to thebag and the strap is bent over to close the fastener, with the envelopeheld between the two sides of the strap. There is no need to precut thehole, as is done with cardboard.

Referring now to EKG. 2, the shirt 4% is packaged on a cardboard support56. The upper edge of this cardboard is exposed at the back of theshirt, and has a punched hole near its upper edge. Hook 52. is securedto the cardboard by simply passing the stud through the hole, and thenbending the strap around the upper edge of the cardboard to close thesnap fastener.

Referring now to FIG. 3, the short transparent envelope 5 2 is completedby means of a heavy paper or cardboard reader 56 which carries the nameof the product, the manufacturer, and other descriptive material. Insome ackages the header has a single thickness, and the two 'dcs of theenvelope are cemented on opposite sides of lower edge of the header. inother cases the header e is OK.

dges enclose the upper edges of the envelope and may e secured thereto,as by means of staples or adhesive. in either case the header, if thick,has a hole near its upper edge, and a hook 53 like that previouslydescribed is applied to the header. If the paper is thin the stud may beforced through the hole, and the strap bent over to close the fastener.

It is believed that the construction and method of use of our improvedmerchandise display hook, as well as the advantages thereof, will beapparent from the foregoing detailed description. It will also beapparent that while we have shown and described the invention in apreferred form, changes may be made without departing from the scope ofthe invention, as sought to be defined in the following claims. in theclaims the term curved refers to the open hook portion of the morecomhead plete hook structure.

We claim:

1. A merchandise display hook comprising an integral body of a moldableplastics material, said hook comprising a shank having a curved openhook head at its upper end and one half of a fastener at its lower end,an additional normally straight but flexible strap extending from saidfastener and carrying the other half of the fastener at its free end,the said strap being readily bendable in a plane transverse to the planeof the hook head to brin the halves of the fastener together, one halfhaving a stud and the other half having a socket dimensioned to bereceived over said stud, the axis of the stud being substantiallyperpendicular to the plane of the hook head.

2. A merchandise display hook comprising an integral body of a moldableplastics material, said hook comprising a shank having a curved openhook head at its upper end and one half of a fastener at its lower end,an additional normally straight but flexible strap extending from saidfastener and carrying the other half of the fastener at its free end,the said strap being readily bendable to bring the halves of thefastener together, one half having a stud and the other half having asocket dimensioned to be received with a resilient snap fit over saidstud, the base area of said stud half having a hole at each side of thestud, and the stud being longitudinally thinned to conform to theadjacent portions of the hole the thinning of said stud terminatingshort of the free end of the stud to form an enlargement at the free endof the stud.

3. A merchandise display hook comprising an integral body of a moldableplastics material, said hook comprising a shank having a curved openhook head at its upper end and one half of a fastener at its lower end,an additional normally straight but flexible strap extending upward fromsaid fastener alongside said shank and carrying the other half of thefastener at its upper end, the said strap being readily bendable in aplane transverse to the plane of the hook head to bring the halves ofthe astener together, one half having a stud and the other ialf having asocket dimensioned to be received over said stud, the axis of the studbeing substantially perpendicular to the plane of the hook head.

. double width and is folded at its top edge. The lower 4-. Amerchandise display hook comprising an integral body of a moldableplastics material, said hook comprising a shank having a curved openhook head at its upper end and one half of a fastener at its lower end,an additional normally straight but flexible strap extending upward fromsaid fastener alongside said shank and carrying the other half of thefastener at its upper end, the said strap being readily bendable tobring the halves of the fastener together, one half having a stud andthe other half having a socket dimensioned to be received with aresilient snap fit over said stud, the base area of said stud halfhaving a hole at each side of the stud, and the stud beinglongitudinally thinned to conform to the adjacent portions of the holes,the thinning of said stud terminating short of the free end of the studto form an enlargement at the free end of the stud.

5. A merchandise display hook comprising an integral body molded out ofa flexible polyethylene, said hook comprising an upright shank having acurved open hook head at its upper end and one half of a fastener at itslower end, an additional normally straight but flexible strap extendingupward from said fastener alongside said shank and carrying the otherhalf of the fastener at its upper end located within the curved head,the said strap being readily bendable in a plane transverse to the planeof the hook head to bring the halves of the fastener together, the lowerhalf having a stud and the upper half having a socket dimensioned to bereceived over said stud, the axis of the stud being substantiallyperpendicular to the plane of the hook head, and the head of said hookbeing thickened to stiffen the same.

6. A merchandise display hook comprising an integral body molded out ofa flexible polyethylene, said hook comprising an upright shank having acurved open hook head at its upper end and one half of a fastener at itslower end, an additional normally straight but flexible strap extendingupward from said fastener alongside said shank and carrying the otherhalf of the fastener at its upper end located within the curved head,the said strap being readily bendable to bring the halves of thefastener together, the lower half having a stud and the upper halfhaving a socket dimensioned to be received with a resilient snap fitover said stud, the head of said hook being thickened to stiffen thesame, the base area of said stud half having a hole at each side of thestud, and the stud being longitudinally thinned to conform to theadjacent portions of the holes, the thinning of said stud terminatingshort of the free end of the stud to form an enlargement at the free endof the stud.

7. A merchandise display hook comprising an integral body molded out ofa flexible polyethylene, said hook comprising an upright shank having acurved open hook head at its upper end and one half of a fastener at itslower end, an additional normally straight but flexible strap extendingupward from said fastener alongside said shank and carrying the otherhalf of the fastener at its upper end located win in the curved head,the said strap being bendable in a plane transverse to the plane of thehook head and the midportion of said strap being thinned to localize thebending of the strap to bring the halves of the fastener together, onehalf having a stud and the other half having a socket dimensioned to bereceived over said stud, the axis of the stud being substantiallyperpendicular to the plane of the hook head, and the head of said hookbeing thickened to stiffen the same.

8. A merchandise display hook comprising an integral body molded out ofa flexible polyethylene, said hook comprising an upright shank having acurved open hook head at its upper end and one half of a fastener at'itslower end, an additional normally straight but flexible strap extendingupward from said fastener alongside said shank and carrying the otherhalf of the fastener at its upper end located within the curved head,the said strap being readily bendable and the midportion of said strapbeing thinned to localize the bending of the strap to bring the halvesof the fastener together, one half having a stud and the other halfhaving a socket dimensioned to be received with a resilient snap it oversaid stud, the head of said hook being thickened to stiffen the same,the base area of said stud half having a hole at each side of the stud,and the stud being longitudinally thinned to conform to the adjacentportions of the holes, the thinning of said stud terminating short ofthe free end of the stud to form an enlargement at the free end of thestud.

9. A merchandise display hook comprising an integral body of a moldableplastics material, said hook comprising an upright shank having a curvedopen hook head at its upper end and fastener means at its lower end,said fastener means including a base portion in the plane of 6 the hookhead and carrying a stud With an enlarged top, the base portion having ahole at each side of the stud, the sides of the stud being dimensionedto conform to the adjacent parts of the holes, and said sides stoppingshort of the free end of the stud to form the enlar ed top at the freeend of the stud, the axis of the stud being substantially @erpendicnlarto the plane of the hook head.

Great Britain of 1895 Italy Aug. 1, 1956

1. A MERCHANDISE DISPLAY HOOK COMPRISING AN INTEGRAL BODY OF A MOLDABLEPLASTICS MATERIAL, SAID HOOK COMPRISING A SHANK HAVING A CURVED OPENHOOK HEAD AT ITS UPPER END AND ONE HALF OF A FASTENER AT ITS LOWER END,AN ADDITIONAL NORMALLY STRAIGHT BUT FLEXIBLE STRAP EXTENDING FROM SAIDFASTENER AND CARRYING THE OTHER HALF OF THE FASTENER AT ITS FREE END,THE SAID STRAP BEING READILY BENDABLE IN A PLANE TRANSVERSE TO THE PLANEOF THE HOOK HEAD TO BRING THE HALVES OF THE FASTENER TOGETHER, ONE HALFHAVING A STUD AND THE OTHER HALF HAVING A SOCKET DIMENSIONED TO BERECEIVED OVER SAID STUD, THE AXIS OF THE STUD BEING SUBSTANTIALLYPERPENDICULAR TO THE PLANE OF THE HOOK HEAD.